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A
1995 A are a British alternative rock band from Leeds, England. The band was founded by three brothers, Jason, Adam and Giles Perry, and two friends, Mark Chapman and Steve Swindon. The original members cited their influences as: Rush, The Beach Boys, Van Halen and the Beastie Boys. 1996 After changing their name from 'Grand Designs' and abandoning their early progressive rock-inspired sound for a more punk rock style, they signed a European recording contract with British (Warner Bros. Records) Release the single "5 in the Morning" 1997 MAY '''Release the single "Bad Idea". UK #170 '''JULY 29 Released their debut LP How Ace Are Buildings '' The band briefly appeared in the music video for "Anthem" by The Wildhearts. The band found a healthy underground reception and even had a couple of low-charting singles in the UK. After the mild success brought to the band by How Ace Are Buildings, bassist Stevie Swindon decided to quit the band. He was replaced by bassist and current (as of 2008) BBC Radio 1 Rock Show DJ Daniel P Carter. A licensing agreement for the American music market was reached with the North Carolina-based Mammoth Records. Future releases would be distributed in the U.S. and Canada by Mammoth. Release the single "House Under the Ground" 1998 '''JAN '''Release the single "Foghorn". UK #63 '''APR '''Release the single "Number One". UK #47 '''JUNE '''Release the single "Sing-a-Long". UK #57 '''OCT '''Release the single "Summer on the Underground". UK #72 '''OCT' Start the studio sessions for the second album 1999 FEB Finish the studio sessions for the second album MAY 'Release the single "Old Folks". UK #54 '''AUG '''Release the single "I Love Lake Tahoe". UK #59 '''SEP '9 The second album'' A' Vs. Monkey Kong ''is released. The band then toured the world and enjoyed a small degree of success worldwide, especially in Germany. 2000 '''AUG 8 They released a live album, Exit Stage Right. Release the single "A" 2001 JAN 11 The mini-album, Rockin' Like Dokken ''is released only in Japan 2002 '''FEB '''Release the single "Nothing", which saw the band reach the UK top ten for the first time, hitting number 9 '''MAR' 4 Their third album, Hi-Fi Serious ''is released. The release of the album was highly anticipated, and charted at #18 '''MAY '''Release the single "Starbucks". UK #20 '''NOV '''Release the single "Something's Going On". UK #51 The tour following ''Hi-Fi Serious ''saw the band playing their largest venues to date, headlining the 5,000 capacity Brixton Academy as part of their 'Inner-City Sumo' Tour. At the end of the year they won the Kerrang! award for "Best British Band". 2003 '''SEP '''Release the single "Good Time". UK #23 2004 Their single "Nothing" was added to Beyblade's Let It Rip! official soundtrack. 2005 '''MAY '''Release the single "Rush Song". UK #35 '''JUNE' 27 'A' released their fourth album, Teen Dance Ordinance (TDO). ''The album had been recorded two years earlier, but was heavily delayed due to Jason Perry's illness and disputes with the record company. Unlike their last two albums, ''Teen Dance Ordinance ''was not released in the US. Hollywood Records agreed early on to release it in the US, but ultimately did not. The album charted at a disappointing #95 on the UK charts. '''JULY '''Release the single "Better Off With Him". UK #52 The band went on hiatus and worked on other projects in the following years. Jason Perry spent time writing, recording, and touring with Matt Willis, formerly of Busted. He has also helped to write songs with the pop band McFly and is producing their new album. Adam replaced Bloodhound Gang drummer Willie the New Guy for their 2005-6 European tour, and subsequently became the full-time drummer. 2006 '''SEP' 25 Daniel P Carter started hosting BBC Radio 1's Rock Show. He continues writing material with Jason Perry, and artists such as McFly, as well as previously playing bass in Matt Willis' band for his first album. He is also playing guitar and lead vocals in new hardcore punk band, Hexes. 2007 "Something's Going On" and "The Distance" were added to the Surf's Up video game soundtrack. Mark Chapman joined a band called Malpractice, FEB 19 Malpractice released their debut single "Breathe" When questioned at the Download Festival in 2007, Daniel Carter said the band would be reuniting for a "few shows" at the end of the year. 2008 In an interview, Jason Perry explained the hiatus and expressed how much he had enjoyed being in the band, reiterating the desire to record and tour again in the future. AUG Adam Perry revealed three tour dates supporting The Wildhearts on the band's forum, noting that: "This is going to be wicked and we are grateful to The Wildhearts for dragging us from our retirement! Plus there are now big plans afoot to start the new record for next year." Bassist Daniel P Carter will not return to the band, however, and is to be replaced by John Mitchell, current frontman of It Bites and producer (Enter Shikari, Hexes). 'DEC '3 John Mitchell played his first show with the band at the Sheffield Carling Academy supporting The Wildhearts. 2009 Jason recently announced on his twitter page that 'A' will be playing five shows in UK and five in Germany in December 2009.